How do I force my Mac Plus to actually, correctly, identify the size of the hard drive in my external PLI drive.

[butch]

Hi

My 4MB Mac Plus says the external SCSI hard drive to which it's connected (the drive is an old PLI 80 Turbo (I've replaced the original Connor 80 MB drive with an IBM 160 MB) is only 8.6 MBs in size, when in fact, the drive itself knows its a 160 MB drive.

How do I get my Mac Plus to spit out the truth?? I'm interested in selling the Mac Plus (with a whole bunch of accessories and other goodies) on eBay and I don't want a future purchaser to be upset when he checks the "Get Info" on the drive and reads the incorrect data being provided by the Mac Plus.

I've searched many Mac-oriented sites on the internet, including this one, and haven't been able to find an answer.

Thanks to all and anyone that can actually help me here.

Thanks!



Butch

 

[robin-fo]

Did you try to initialise (not just format/erase) the drive? There is even a dedicated tool for PLI drives. Try using a patched version of Apple HD SC Setup or PLI formatter.

 

[butch]

Thanks for responding.

No, I didn't initialize the drive; I just upgraded right over the System 6.08. I'll try the initialization route first.

Also, I do have the PLI Formatter Tool, but didn't think to use it with the new System 7.1 set up. Should I use that instead of the Apple HD SC Setup tool on System 7.1?

Thanks!

 

[robin-fo]

Try with PLI formatter first. HD SC Setup usually refuses to initialise non-Apple drives. Best copy the PLI formatter and the System Folder from a Disk Tools disk to a spare floppy and boot from it. Then initialise the hard disk and reinstall the system software. I hope this all fits onto a 800k floppy..

 

[butch]

Thanks for the additional info.

BTW, how does one create a "patched version of Apple HD SC Setup"? I would love to know since I intend to be working with 68K machines almost exclusively, with a couple of Kanga, Wallstreet, PDQ, Lombard and Pismo machines thrown in for good measure. And, based on my experience thus far with a couple of the rehabs, both the 68K machines and the PowerBooks can be challenge to upgrade and rehab.

Thanks for everything you've shared so far and any additional light you can shine on "patched versions of the Apple HD SC Setup.

 

[halkyardo]

The "patched HD Setup" has been floating around for years, I'm not sure where it came from or the nature of the changes, but the effect is that it skips the check for Apple firmware on the drive, so it can partition non-Apple drives.

The first two downloads at https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-hd-sc-setup-753-patch should be what you're looking for.

 

[robin-fo]

I think the A/UX version of HD SC Setup has always been able to initialise any drive; the patch for the standard version simply disables a check which only passes on Apple drives.

 

[trag]

Hi

My 4MB Mac Plus says the external SCSI hard drive to which it's connected (the drive is an old PLI 80 Turbo (I've replaced the original Connor 80 MB drive with an IBM 160 MB) is only 8.6 MBs in size, when in fact, the drive itself knows its a 160 MB drive.

@robin-fo 's advice is good. I thought I would offer one theory on why the drive is behaving this way. Many third party formatting softwares allow one to create multiple partitions on the one disk and then select whether the partitions are visible on boot or not. A utility which came with the formatting software can then be used to mount the hidden partitions when one chooses.

Most likely, your 160 MB drive only has a visible 8.6 MB partition and the other(s) are hidden until mounted -- possibly password protected.

 

[butch]

Trag,

I believe you may be right about only the 8.6 partition showing up. That would certainly explain a lot of what I've discovered with the aid of the reset of you folks on this thread with all of the good advice contributed by everyone.

Thanks all!